President Donald Trump said the first overseas trip of his second term will be to to Saudi Arabia, as well as possibly the UAE and Qatar, to sign investment agreements that will see billions injected in the US economy.
“It could be next month, maybe a little bit later,” Mr Trump said on Monday in the Oval Office. “And we're going to Qatar, also, and also we're going to possibly a couple of other countries. UAE is very important … so we'll probably stop at UAE and Qatar.”
His remarks came after news outlet Axios reported that White House officials were planning Mr Trump’s first trip to Saudi Arabia in mid-May as a signal of appreciation for its planned investment in US industry.
Mr Trump noted that he visited Saudi Arabia during his first term as President after Riyadh made $450 billion worth of investments in US companies. He said Saudi Arabia had promised this time to more than double that amount with a pledge that amounts to nearly $1 trillion.
“I view it as jobs more than anything else, and now we’re close to a trillion dollars,” Mr Trump said. “So, it’s more than double the number that we did when I first came to office.”
Mr Trump, notably, did not mention the role Saudi Arabia has played in hosting negotiations over a possible summit with Russia President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war with Ukraine.
The US President has previously indicated that the pair could hold talks there, but has expressed frustration in recent days. Earlier on Monday, Mr Trump said he remained confident that Mr Putin would eventually back a ceasefire deal.
Mr Trump, who took office on January 20, has said he wants to see more countries – including Saudi Arabia – join the Abraham Accords, which established diplomat ties with Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan that his administration helped secure during his first term.
The prospect of Saudi Arabia participating in the agreement is complicated by Israel's war in Gaza, which has killed more than 50,300 Palestinians and reduced much of the coastal enclave to rubble.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump said he spoke to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Tuesday and discussed military efforts aimed at curbing Yemen's Houthis from attacking ships in the Red Sea, as well as possible solutions in Gaza. In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump said the call went "very well".
The call comes after Washington launched a series of strikes on the Iran-backed rebels earlier this month, after they threatened to resume their attacks on international ships and Israel.
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